FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT LAVOY ALLEN - PAGE 2

SACRAMENTO - All 76ers coach Doug Collins could do was point to his head. There were no words forthcoming, just a finger to his temple. The question posed to Collins following Sunday's 117-103 win over the Sacramento Kings, which snapped a 15-game road losing streak, was: "What got into Lavoy Allen, and how come he can't play like this more often?" Allen posted a career-high 20 points in the win, only the second time in 17 games he has hit double figures. His minutes had dwindled drastically of late as the dreaded "plays with little passion" tag has grown larger and larger throughout the season.

Conventional wisdom, not to mention the stat sheet, indicates that top scorer Dionte Christmas is the most important member of the Temple basketball team. The numbers in the win-loss column point to someone else. With sophomore forward Lavoy Allen back in the starting lineup, the Owls dramatically improved their defense in a 65-59 victory over Penn State last night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Allen, who missed one game and most of another - both losses - with a broken thumb, totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists against the Nittany Lions (7-2)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It takes a lot to distract Lavoy Allen. But the 76ers forward/center, a Temple graduate, said he took time out of his preparation for Sunday's game with the Sacramento Kings to watch the Owls go down to Indiana in the NCAA East Regional. Temple lost, 58-52. "I watched it, and I was rooting for my guys," Allen said. "But I have been focused on getting ready to play the Sacramento Kings today. " The Hoosiers closed with a 10-0 run. "They almost had them, yeah," Allen said of the Owls.

WASHINGTON - It had all the signs of a lopsided loss for Temple. The 24th-ranked Owls were playing without junior swingman Scootie Randall for the third consecutive game. Temple also missed 21 of its first 25 field-goal attempts. And to make matters worse, George Washington held a 12-point lead more than halfway through the first half. But that's when the Owls and their defense woke up. Temple closed the gap before intermission and suffocated the Colonials in the second half en route to a 57-41 Atlantic Ten victory Saturday at the Smith Center.

The off-season wasn't really an off-season for Temple guard Ryan Brooks, a 6-foot-4 senior from Lower Merion High School whom the Owls are counting on to score and lead. He was working out regularly with Jerome Allen, the former NBA player and current Penn assistant coach who suited up for the Quakers under Fran Dunphy, now the Temple coach. "I put a lot of hard work in at the gym, working on every aspect of my game," said Brooks, who was Temple's third-leading scorer last winter with 10.6 points per game.

Almost any team can win at home. But the teams that can go into hostile arenas and pull off a victory or two often find themselves playing deep into March. St. Louis, after the 65-40 pasting it received from Temple last night at the Liacouras Center, is obviously not built for any such Madness. The Billikens fell to 0-5 on the road and looked as if they would have rather stayed west of the Mississippi. But the Owls are NCAA tournament-worthy; whether they get that far remains to be seen.

Lavoy Allen's impact in the Sixers' second-round playoff matchup with the Celtics, knotted at two games apiece with Game 5 to be played Monday in Boston, can't be overstated. The 6-foot-9, 254-pounder logged almost 33 minutes against Boston in the Sixers' dramatic 92-83 come-from-behind victory Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. As the Sixers came back from 18 points down in the third quarter, Allen grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. But his greatest impact has been at the defensive end. With Elton Brand battling neck and shoulder injuries, Sixers coach Doug Collins has seen fit to use the physical and deceptively swift-of-foot Allen to guard future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.

Three reasons the Owls could have a long tourney run: 1 The understated, but very effective, halfcourt defense will keep them in games even if they don't shoot well. 2The wonderfully designed offense gets the best shooters good shots where they are most comfortable. 3Post scoring is kind of a lost art in today's dribble-drive game, but the Owls have it with Lavoy Allen and Michael Eric. - Dick Jerardi

Temple, the three-time defending Atlantic 10 Conference champion, is ranked No. 22 in the nation in the first Associated Press poll of the season. The Owls, who were at No. 22 in the ESPN/ USA Today coaches' poll released last week, are in the Top 25 to open the season for the first time since 2001-02. They were ranked 12th in the final AP poll last season after going 29-6. Temple returns three starters from that team, including senior forward Lavoy Allen a first-team All-A-10 performer; junior guard Juan Fernandez, the A-10 Tournament's Most Outstanding Player last year; and junior forward Micheal Eric.